Kyrie Irving's 29 carries Cleveland Cavaliers past Washington Wizards

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Cavaliers' Kyrie Irving grabs a loose ball in front of Wizards' Jannero Pargo, middle, during the third quarter of on Tuesday in Cleveland. Irving scored 29 points, and rookie guard Dion Waiters added 17 in his NBA debut, to lead the Cavaliers to a 94-84 win in the season opener.

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Cavaliers' Kyrie Irving, right, passes away from Wizards' A.J. Price in the first quarter on Tuesday in Cleveland.

CLEVELAND -- Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving has star power.

But it's center Anderson Varejao who might be the team's most valuable player.

Talk about dealing Varejao just won't stop. Many figure when the youngsters on the Cavs are ready to compete, the 30-year-old Varejao is going to be too old.

However, whenever anyone thinks about trading him, they should pop in a videotape of his game on Tuesday in the Cavs' 94-84 victory over the Washington Wizards in the season opener for both teams.

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The 6-foot-11, 260-pound Varejao established career highs in rebounds (23) and assists (nine), as he was an absolute demon on the boards.

It didn't help that the Wizards were missing two key big men in Nene (foot) and Kevin Seraphin (calf).

Varejao ended with nine points and made 3 of 7 shots.

His 23 rebounds were just two off the Cavs' record set by Rick Roberson on March 4, 1972, at Houston.

"He's so valuable to us because of all the things he does on both ends of the floor," Cavs coach Byron Scott said. "He's a great passer at that center position. Every time that shot goes up, you have to worry about him. He's a guy that you have to game plan for."

Irving led all scorers with 29 points, six rebounds and three assists.

He knocked down 3 of 6 shots from the 3-point line.

"It's great to have two All-Star performers with Kyrie and Andy," Scott said.

His sidekick, rookie Dion Waiters, displayed a scorer's touch in his first NBA game. He finished with 17 points.

The play everyone will remember came with 8:33 left in the third quarter.

He stole the ball from Wizards guard Bradley Beal and went in for a slam dunk.

Beal ended with eight points, three rebounds and three assists. He was the No. 3 overall pick in the draft and Waiters went one pick later.

"You could see (Waiters) coming in the last two weeks," Scott said. "I'm not shocked. He probably got up for playing against Beal."

Varejao said he went after every rebound.

"It was one of those nights when you get one, two, three, and they keep coming," he said. "It was fun. Before the game, Coach said we had to play with a lot of energy. We had to play hard out there. I was just doing my job and was active."

The Cavs outrebounded the Wizards, 54-39.

"We got beat up on the boards," Washington coach Randy Wittman said.

Varejao said he didn't realize how close he was to a triple-double.

"I looked up and saw: nine, nine and 23," he said. "I could have used a bit more time (to get a triple-double)."

The Wizards used a staggering 16-0 run in the fourth quarter to take the lead.